GRIPE History

The inaugural meeting of GRIPE members was hosted on June 11, 1971 and included thirteen pathology educators in Iowa City, Iowa. Hosted by Thomas H. Kent, MD representing the University of Iowa College of Medicine, these educators met to discuss teaching objectives and exchange pathology education teaching/learning materials. In addition to Iowa, the Colleges of Medicines at the following universities were represented: University of Kentucky, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, University of Nebraska, St. Louis University, University of Colorado, and the University of Missouri. Their agenda included a discussion of interest in developing and sharing objectives, learning experiences and evaluation of medical students. By the following year, when they met again, they begin the development of a computerized Pathology Item Pool for medical education. A pilot was conducted of the Item Bank in ten medical universities. The original pathology educators contributed most of the beginning data. A grant of $8,450 was obtained from the National Fund for Medical Education to do a feasibility study for the development of the Pathology Test Item Bank. Forty-five years later, the Group for Research in Pathology Education has a Digital Library of over 6000 peer-reviewed, indexed items and more than 4000 peer-reviewed, indexed images of pathology.

GRIPE is made up of Institutional Subscriptions and Individual Memberships of pathology educators across the United States, Canada and some international countries. The organization meets annually over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Holiday to promote collaboration among educators for scholarship, developing resources and supporting professional development. The central office for GRIPE is located in Huntington, West Virginia, USA. We invite you to learn more about our organization and its diverse programs by exploring the web site and by contacting our Central Office. Email support@gripeadmin.org for information.